Designed to provide activities that increase the understanding, assessment, development, and utilization of aerospace resources and to expand the educational, scientific, and research base of all aerospace-related fields.

Friday, May 4, 2012 4:00 – 6:30 PM

Biography

[Photo taken by Karen Hilton]

Ralph P. Harvey is an Associate Professor of Geological Sciences at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. A graduate of Beloit College with a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, he has been the Principal Investigator and field team leader for the US Antarctic Search for Meteorites program since 1991. He is an author or co-author on more than 100 publications on diverse topics in the planetary sciences, ranging from micrometeorites to icesheet dynamics to the history of Mars.

Dr. Harvey is a principal investigator in NSF’s Office of Polar Programs as well as NASA’s Cosmochemistry and Mars Fundamental Research programs. He is a frequent contributor to science instrument and landing site definition panels for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program and was recently a member of the preliminary examination team for the STARDUST sample return mission. Both an asteroid and an Antarctic mountain now bear his name.

Abstract: Since 1969 nearly 50,000 meteorite specimens have been systematically recovered from the East Antarctic icesheet, 20,000 of these by the US Antarctic Search for Meteorites program. These samples have done more than fill the larders of museums and research institutions; they have fundamentally changed our understanding of the solar system. Antarctic meteorites are the only reliable, continuous, and readily available source of new planetary material, naturally swept up by the Earth as it cascades through space, and revealing the fundamental building blocks of the solar system.

An endowed lectureship has been established to honor Professor James R. Arnold, one of UCSD’s first faculty members and the founding chair of the Chemistry Department. If you would like to contribute to future lectures please click on the the donation form below.

This is a free public lecture. A reception in honor of Professor Jim Arnold will be held immediately afterwards.

For More Information on the Lecture: Please contact Tehseen Lazzouni (tlazzouni@ucsd.edu).

A memorial will be held at 2:00 PM the following day, Saturday, May 5th, 2012 to honor Professor Jim Arnold in his passing earlier this year. Updates on the memorial will be available at the following website: http://www-chem.ucsd.edu.

For More Information on the Memorial: Please contact Virginia Perry (vgperry@ucsd.edu).